William Gibson is not one of the authors that spits out novels like a machine – in his long and fruitful career he has only published 11 novels andof short stories and articles in the tens each. Still his impact on modern literature was huge – the “noir prophet” of the cyberpunk subgenre (that he was one of the pioneers of) has predicted the rise of reality television, virtual reality, video games and the internet. He is a Hugo and Nebula award winning science fiction writer, with a special eye for what the future might bring.

Sеx worker Moira Mona wears a mask at her studio where she creates videos near Amsterdam, Netherlands on June 30, 2020. (Photo by Piroschka van de Wouw/Reuters)

A visitor tries a baccarat game at the Global Gaming Expo (G2E) Asia in Macau, China May 19, 2015. (Photo by Bobby Yip/Reuters)

The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland has appeared in the world top ten for performing arts education in the QS World University Rankings 2024 published today, April 10, 2024. (Photo by The Times)

A worker assembles a sеx doll at the WMDOLL factory in Zhongshan, Guangdong Province, China, July 11, 2018. The factory has over 200 full-time workers, all dolls are handmade and each requires the cooperation of at least five workers. (Photo by Aly Song/Reuters)

A dramatic rise in owning exotic pets in China is fuelling global demand for threatened species. The growing trade in alligators, snakes, monkeys, crocodiles and spiders is directly linked to species loss in some of the world’s most threatened ecosystems. Here: A fennec fox (Vulpes zerda) is groomed in a pet store in central Beijing. Native to the Sahara in North Africa, the species became a popular pet after being depicted as a character in Disney’s 2016 animated movie Zootopia. Individuals can cost between $2,000–$3,000. (Photo by Sean Gallagher/The Guardian)

A worker piles salvaged e-bikes and scooters on the back of his three wheeler before taking them to be recycled on August 31, 2021 in Beijing, China. (Photo by Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)

Astronauts Nie Haisheng (C), Liu Boming (R) and Tang Hongbo are out of the return capsule of the Shenzhou-12 spaceship at the Dongfeng landing site in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region on September 17, 2021. Three Chinese astronauts, the first sent to orbit for space station construction, have completed their three-month mission and returned to Earth safely on Friday. Photo by Lian Zhen/Xinhua News Agency)